[[quoteright:237:[[Wiki/TVTropes http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lampshade-logo-smooth-slightly-bigger.png]]]][[caption-width-right:237:[[SelfReferentialHumor Now with 75% more tropes about not-television!]]]]

A series title that made perfect sense when it began, but after a number of changes to the premise, no longer makes sense to people who don't go back to the beginning. Sometimes a new element is put in to justify the title.

This usually happens when a movie named after a specific MacGuffin suddenly gets a sequel, and changing the title to something else might throw people off that this ''is'' a sequel. One of the ways to avert this is through a FranchiseDrivenRetitling, downgrading the original to a subtitle with the main title being something more consistent. They very well couldn't have called the ''Franchise/IndianaJones'' sequel ''[[Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk Raiders of the Lost Ark 2]]'', could they?

See also TheArtifact. Often a direct result of NothingIsTheSameAnymore. Sometimes results in NewSeasonNewName. Happens often in poorly devised AlternateUniverse FanFiction. Eventually this could turn a title into a NonindicativeName. This can also happen on a larger scale with NetworkDecay.